There were two lamps on in the room, and the light inside the bed was dim and soft.
After not seeing each other for only half a month, Huayang discovered that Chen Jingzong's arms seemed to be thicker than before.
She couldn't help but touch it: "Have you been practicing every day recently?"
Chen Jingzong: "Well, those soldiers are almost useless. I have to lead by example. Why, you don't like it?"
She would not admit that she liked Huayang, so she pushed him and said, "There is an envelope in the drawer on the left side of the dressing table. Open it and take a look."
Chen Jingzong looked at her and smiled: "You're not thinking about me so much that you wrote a letter to express your longing?"
Huayang glared at him fiercely.
Chen Jingzong kissed her neck again before getting out of bed to get the letter.
With such a tall and strong body, it would be fine for her to hold him in bed, but she couldn't look at Huayang openly, so she turned around and lay with her back to him.
Chen Jingzong took out the envelope, got into bed, pulled her into his arms with one hand, held the envelope with the other hand, and bit open the seal with his teeth.
When I looked inside, I found a stack of banknotes.
He looked at Huayang: "Has the Jade Guanyin already made a move?"
Huayang: "Yes, Wu Run went to Yueyang specifically to find a wealthy merchant to sell it to. The total amount was 20,000 taels. If it weren't for the time constraints, he should have been able to sell more."
Chen Jingzong frowned when he heard this.
The Chen family didn't have much background, and they became rich thanks to their old man. Despite this, the Chen family's style was still simple. Chen Jingzong had lived for so many years, but only after marrying Huayang could he see some jewelry and expensive silks and satins every day, such as the Shu brocade mattress she liked to use, which he was not qualified to sleep on if he didn't take a bath.
When Chen Jingzong saw the two gifts that the Prince of Xiang gave her, he could not appreciate their specific value. He only guessed that they were good things and could be sold for about a thousand taels of silver.
Who would have thought that the two jade Guanyin pieces that Huayang didn't think highly of could be sold for 20,000 taels!
Wouldn’t the original painting by Huizong of the previous dynasty be more expensive
The fact that the Prince of Xiang was willing to give Huayang tens of thousands of taels of silver only shows that the interests he wanted to protect might be worth hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of taels!
He was silent for too long. Huayang looked up and saw his expression. He could guess what he was thinking and said with some sarcasm: "Officials know how to use their power to bully the people, not to mention the princes of various places. A prince of a certain generation can accumulate a huge fortune. After several or even dozens of generations, the wealth can be imagined. If you randomly pick a prince, the things in his palace treasury may be better than the national treasury."
When my grandfather was in power, the national treasury was not only not clean, but was in deficit every year. Fortunately, my father was able to know people and appoint them to the right positions, and the national treasury has finally been able to keep a little surplus over the years, but it was still tight.
"Okay, let's not talk about that. How much silver do you want for the garrison?" Huayang patted his chest gently.
The vassal kings are a problem left by Grandfather Taizu. Every emperor has been troubled by them, but they have to support them. Even their ancestors were helpless, so she and Chen Jingzong should not worry about it.
Chen Jingzong held her hand, looked at the banknotes again, and said, "Give me one thousand taels. It will solve the current problem of the garrison for the time being. When I get back the military farms that were embezzled by those people, the garrison will be able to operate normally with the income from the military farms and the military pay allocated by the court."
Xiang Baoshan was right when he said that relying solely on private interests to help the public is not a long-term solution.
Huayang: "With more than 5,000 soldiers, wouldn't 1,000 taels be too little?"
Chen Jingzong: "You and I have only been married for more than a year. My annual salary as a consort is exactly one thousand taels. If you take more, those people will suspect that you are subsidizing me. Wouldn't the previous drama be in vain?"
Hua Yang blinked his eyes and said teasingly, "Are you not trying to remind me in a roundabout way that you still have a salary of 1,000 taels with me?"
Chen Jingzong threw away the envelope, turned around and pressed her under him: "Even you are mine, why would I care about those things outside of my body."
Huayang said, "Who is yours? Just like a wife will be divorced by her husband if she makes a mistake, you have to behave well to be my consort for a long time."
Chen Jingzong: "What does it mean to perform well? Like I just did, I let you become an immortal three times..."
Huayang covered his dog's mouth with one hand! .
The next day, when Huayang woke up, it was almost noon.
My body is so sore that I feel even more tired than kicking shuttlecock a thousand times in a row.
The bell rang, and the person who came in unexpectedly was Chen Jingzong.
She was surprised and asked, "You didn't go to the guard post?"
Chen Jingzong: "I was knocked unconscious last night. With such a serious injury, it would be unreasonable not to take three days off."
At this time, the news that the Prince Consort had successfully returned to Ning Garden and had not left for the entire morning had already reached the ears of everyone who was concerned about this matter.
At the prefectural government office, Yu Xiu asked her husband, "Do I still need to go today?"
Chen Bozong: "No, they should have reconciled. If you are really worried, wait until Fourth Brother goes back to the garrison, then go over and take a look."
Yu Xiu nodded.
In the Prince of Xiang's Mansion, the Prince of Xiang thought about Chen Jingzong's performance last night from beginning to end, and suddenly sneered.
Falling out of favor, getting hurt, and then regaining favor, this routine was too familiar to him, and many beauties in the backyard had used it! Although Chen Jingzong was unwilling to lend his soldiers to him for enslavement, he still liked the beautiful princess in his heart, so when he heard that the princess might have taken a fancy to a certain actor, he immediately pretended to be sick and took the opportunity to return to Ningyuan, and then relied on his handsome face and tall body to please the princess. In that kind of thing, men and women are the same, and everything is easy to talk about when the body is comfortable!
Damn the fourth son of the Chen family, he paid tens of thousands of taels of silver here, but all the benefits were taken away by Chen Jingzong, who won face with the garrison and got benefits from the princess!
After his anger subsided, King Xiang walked to the mirror, looked at his fat body and his face which was really hard to describe as handsome, and sighed with regret.
If he was also a handsome man, what would Chen Jingzong have to do with him
At Lingzhou Guard Station, Xiang Baoshan and others had been waiting for news early in the morning. When Ningyuan sent someone over to say that the Prince Consort needed to recuperate for three days, Xiang Baoshan, Wang Feihu, Lin Yan and Lu Da, four officials who were not in the same faction, all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Finally they have reconciled. If the Prince Consort continues to live in the garrison, they will suffer as well! .
When Prince Xiang let his guard down, Huayang secretly wrote a letter to his father, and attached to the letter was the original painting of Huizong and an envelope containing 19,000 taels of silver.
In the Imperial Study, Emperor Jingshun was very happy. This time his daughter only wrote him a letter and apparently also sent him a gift!
He picked up the letter first.
However, Emperor Jingshun never expected that his daughter would greet him in the first sentence, and then her second sentence would become "Father, the prince consort is bullying me too much!"
Just these few short words made Emperor Jingshun furious, as if he saw his daughter's pitiful face who had suffered great injustice!
What a great Chen Jingzong! He did not despise Chen Jingzong for being a rough man without any achievements. He only agreed to the marriage reluctantly for the sake of Chen Tingjian and Empress Qi. Chen Jingzong actually dared to bully his most beloved princess!
His chest heaving, Emperor Jingshun continued to look down with a sullen face.
This letter can be summarized into four sections:
"Father, Uncle Xiang has been very kind to me and has given me two treasures. He just wants to temporarily borrow more than a thousand soldiers from the garrison. Of course, I am willing to help him."
"Father, the prince consort is such a jerk. He actually told me that vassal kings cannot mobilize troops, and forced me to return the gift, otherwise he would not return to Ning Garden!"
"Father, my daughter and the prince consort have been in a cold war for half a month, and I am still angry. But the prince consort was injured and unconscious for a whole night. I felt sorry for him and couldn't bear it, so I sold the Jade Guanyin and wanted to give him the silver notes so that he could use them for military supplies, which could also be regarded as paying Uncle Wang for the soldiers he borrowed before. The prince consort was still angry, saying that many soldiers didn't even have winter clothes to keep warm, so he only took 1,000 taels for emergency use, and he didn't care about the rest."
"Father, he is aloof and doesn't care about me, and neither does my daughter. I'm just offering you a gift. Please, Father, make the decision for me and order a lesson for the prince consort. It's all his fault. He made me lose face in front of Uncle Wang!"
Emperor Jingshun read the letter back and forth three times, and then looked at the two gifts. The silver note was nothing special, but the other treasure was actually an authentic work of Huizong!
The piece he sold was an authentic work of Emperor Huizong. The Prince of Xiang is really rich!
Emperor Jingshun thought back to when he was still the crown prince. For many years, the imperial court was short of money. Some people starved to death, some soldiers had no food to eat, and many officials could not get their salaries. He didn't know whether his father was worried or not, but he was so worried that he couldn't sleep at night. But the princes never took out some money to help the imperial court through the difficulties, and only urged the imperial court to pay their salaries as soon as possible!
Especially this Prince of Xiang. An official from Lingzhou Prefecture had submitted a memorial to accuse him before, but Emperor Jingshun did not pursue the matter because of their clan relationship. However, Prince of Xiang did not repent and even dared to mobilize troops from the garrison!
If he dares to mobilize troops to build a garden today, will he dare to mobilize troops to do something else tomorrow
The most hateful thing is that the Prince of Xiang, at his old age, actually dared to take advantage of his daughter's innocence and kindness, and almost ruined the relationship between his daughter and her husband!
In the whole incident, in the eyes of Emperor Jingshun, his daughter was not wrong, his son-in-law was even better, and the Prince of Xiang was the only sinner!
Emperor Jingshun really wanted to call Prince of Xiang to the capital and give him a good scolding. Unfortunately, if he held Prince of Xiang accountable for such a small matter, what would the other princes think
The head of a noble family must be fair and just, and he should treat the princes in the same way. If he acts arbitrarily by relying on his status as an emperor, he will chill the hearts of the princes and may shake the foundation of the country. The ancestor who wanted to abolish the feudal system at the beginning, but he even lost the throne. To whom did he lose it? He lost it to their Chengzu, who was a prince at the beginning!
Emperor Chengzu did not allow others to withdraw their fiefdoms. If these descendants touch any vassal king easily, it would be a slap in the face of Emperor Chengzu!
All kinds of emotions passed through my heart, finally turning into a heavy sigh.
After calming down, Emperor Jingshun began to write back to his daughter, tactfully reminding her to have less contact with Prince of Xiang, praising his son-in-law for the uprightness he inherited from Chen Tingjian, and asking his daughter not to be angry with him anymore.
After writing the letter, Emperor Jingshun walked to the window with his hands behind his back, imagining the soldiers scattered across the country.
Local officials can be corrupt, and so can princes, but these parasites cannot destroy the imperial court’s millions of troops!
If soldiers can't even wear cotton-padded clothes to keep warm and are forced to work as slaves for nothing, who would still want to serve the country with loyalty? If they don't rebel, it's because of the blessing of their ancestors!
"Ask the Minister of War to come see me!"
He wanted to send several teams of troops to inspect the garrisons in various places. He wanted to see what kind of soldiers the imperial court had raised with such a large amount of military pay paid every year!
However, he will give officials from all regions three months to prepare. If they are willing to make amends, he will forgive them. But if they continue to be greedy, he will not show any mercy.
(End of this chapter)